Yes, it seems as though a buffer (with traffic density being displayed as thicker and thicker bands of the buffer) where traffic counts are highest would be the ideal way to go.

I unfortuntately just started this position last Tuesday (Monday being "Confederate Memorial Day") and this map was once a sole person's job here at the Alabama DOT. Literally, this worker who is long retired spent his entire career here simply working on this map, which is updated every 2 years, always on an even year.

However, the last person (and the person from whom I inherited this project) simply up and quit (after a very short stint) without leaving so much as a note to what procedures he was following. I have been told time and time again that the higher-ups do not want ANY color on the maps - do not want to utilize any of GIS's powers. The previous maps were all created in AutoCad or Geomedia. They basically are asking me to create the exact same map which was last produced in 2008 - only with new traffic counts for each segment of each road for the entire state of Alabama. EACH route segment must contain a labeled number for traffic count - i.e. 10,250 for segement 11 on Interstate 65. The clutter of the map is unbelievable. There is no legend - the projection they are using is: